America Ferrera delivered a moving speech at the Critics Choice Awards, saying she was proud to be able to represent people like herself and portray them on screen as “full humans”.
“Receiving the SeeHer Award for my contributions to more authentic portrayals of women and girls — could it be more meaningful to me?” Ferrera said.
“Because I grew up as a first-generation Honduran American girl in love with TV, film and theater, who desperately wanted to be a part of a storytelling legacy that I could not see myself reflected in.”
Ferrera, who played Gloria in Barbie, received the SeeHer award which celebrates women who portray authentic and boundary-pushing characters. Previous winners include Viola Davis, Gal Gadot and Halle Berry.
Ferrera’s character in Barbie is most known for an iconic monologue about the impossible standards women are expected to live up to.
“I yearned to see people like myself on screen as full humans,” Ferrera said in her speech. “When I started working over 20 years ago, that seemed impossible. It seemed impossible that anyone could make a career of portraying fully dimensional Latina characters.”
“But because of writers, directors, producers and executives that were daring enough to hear and to challenge deeply entrenched biases … some of my fellow Latina colleagues have been supremely blessed to have brought to life some fierce and fantastic women.”
@officialcriticschoice #AmericaFerrera makes an increidble speech for her #SeeHer award at the #CriticsChoiceAwards ♬ original sound – Critics Choice Awards
Ferrera said that to her filmmaking is about affirming the full humanity of other people, regardless of their identity or what they look like.
“To me, this is the best and highest use of storytelling to affirm one another’s full humanity, to uphold the truth that we are all worthy of being seen — Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian, trans, disabled, any body type, any gender,” Ferrera said.
“We are all worthy of having our lives richly and authentically reflective.”
Margot Robbie presented Ferrera with the award, taking the opportunity to share some insight into working with the actor, noting that Ferrera is the only Latina to win an Emmy for lead actress for her role in Ugly Betty.
“I imagine being the first in any field can be isolating. I imagine it puts an enormous pressure on you to be perfect, to play it safe,” Robbie said. “But what I admire the most about America is how she has handled that pressure while never being afraid to continue to speak the truth when it counts the most.”
“Off-screen, she is remarkably grounded, surprisingly silly, seemingly unaffected by the talent she possesses, and always, always on the right side of a cause. She blazed a trail for Latina actresses while teaching everyone we are so much more than what we think we are.”
Ferrera also thanked Barbie director Greta Gerwig for telling women’s stories and proving they can be commerically successful.
“Thank you for proving through your incredible mastery as a filmmaker that women’s stories have no difficulty achieving cinematic greatness and box office history at the same time,” Ferrera said. “And that unabashedly telling female stories does not diminish your powers, it expands them.”